I, NonSkywalker and NonJedi
by Master Solo
Summary: Mage Ronin was once, as if in another life, perhaps a dream, a promising Jedi with the Skywalker name. A series of horrific events, including the rise of a Hapan empire, changed it all. Dec 6: I fixed my mistakes from Ch9 and uploaded Ch10. I'm myopic.
1. Prologue

I, Non-Skywalker and Non-Jedi

Prologue

A Tusken Raider studied carefully as a petite, blonde human with shoulder-length hair entered the tribal camp with the evening suns illuminating her back. The woman was unimpressive at first glance, but a glare from the icy, blue eyes said otherwise. Her dirty attire, which skipped her tanned arms and started at her neck and shoulders, paused at her bronze midriffs and continued down her legs. A utility belt wrapped her with various long-range weapons from the waist down, leaving only a few square centimeters of clothes visible. The Tusken Raider commented. "So you are the new Lady Ronin."

"What, there's another one?"

"His last lady died in a sandstorm a year ago." The Tusken Raider narrowed his eyes to mere slits as he carefully examined the new member of the tribe. He gasped in shock. That was no ordinary woman and the only difference between this face and the one in the holos was a heavy tan from dwelling on the two-sunned Tatooine. "You're that Skywalker kid!"

"Oh no. As my sister said, I'm 'Skywalker no more.' My real name's Mage Ronin now." A wave of blood rose to the woman's face at the mention of the family name, but she quickly suppressed it when she remembered that only one Skywalker deserved her hatred.

"You would take Mage over Lady as you title? I am insulted."

"I don't deserve and can't live up to my grandmother's name, but Mage is a name that I truly earned. Lady's my title and Mage is my name." Mage Ronin forced the words she had suppressed for an indefinite amount of time. While she always, without fail, admired her namesake, she found the pressure of bearing her former name totally unbearable. For the fear of offending her grandmother, Mage never voiced her thoughts regarding her name.

"Lord Ronin has an interesting taste for women. Mage, by your name, what you just said, and that look on your face, your tale must be most interesting and long, even though it is common knowledge that you can't be more than nineteen years old. Tell me, how did you earn your name?" The woman said nothing, but she shifted her gaze to the Tusken Raider's tea. The whites of her eyes glowed neon blue and the teacup immediately turned into a giant ice cube. When the blue light faded, ice stopped forming around the eyes' target.

"Not a Jedi trick?" The incredulous Tusken Raider asked as he warmed his hand over the campfire.

"Nah. I don't have that much of the Force. Enough to convince that damned son of a Hutt that I should train as a Jedi, but I'm not like the Skywalkers. Besides, this proves that it's real magic." The woman grinned as she produced two ysalamiri from her pockets.

"We are quite lucky to have found you. Now I am truly confident you can deliver us the heads of those irritants called Whitesun. How and why did you land on our isolated rim-world?" The Tusken Raider asked.

Lady Ronin sighed as she took a seat across from the Raider's at the campfire. "'How' is a long story that started when my mom died and 'why' is that damned Hapan Empire."

"I'm sorry to have inflicted pain, but I am curious. Please, tell me about this Hapan Empire."

"Well, it took over this galaxy and really hates all Jedi and independent Force-sensitives; basically anyone with the Force that doesn't want to work for the pigs and anyone whom they suspect of their so-called 'treason'. Triumvirate's what those Imps call those three fat sows. I came here to trade my services for anonymity and protection."

"Then you must only use Lady Ronin as your name for your health and the tribe's safety. How did the Hapan Empire rise?" The Tusken Raider inquired.

Lady Ronin, in response, brushed back a stray lock of white-blonde hair and began. "It's a long story, but since you seem curious to know, I'm sure you won't mind." She then removed a stack of datacards and a card-reader from her belt. The Tusken Raider, upon seeing the pieces of technology, fetched a Holo-projector, which he stole from some moisture farmers, and connected it to the card-reader.


	2. Part I: Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars; I do not own RavenBlack Vampires. However, my characters and ideas are mine, so get permission via PM or email before borrowing.

Note: This is crossed over with RavenBlack Vampires Unlike some of my other long fics, I already have a good chunk of this done, so you won't see as much impromptu stuff as you did in perhaps TFB.

Title: Vampires in the GFFA I: I, Non-Jedi and Non-Skywalker/Rise of the Sith Vampires–Crossover fic, 60-70 years ABY

Summary: points down

Time: 60-70 years post ANH

Genre: Action and Romance?

Author: SilSolo on TFN, Master Solo on Sequel to Chume Ta's Trials, Bridging Point, and The Final Battle of the Yuuzhan Vong War. You can find all of the fics I listed in my profile. If you want to be contacted when I update, I have an email on yahoo and my ID there is mastersilmedisolo.

Star Wars Episode VII/Vampires in the GFFA I: I, Non-Jedi and Non-Skywalker

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

Almost thirty years have passed since Sheng Lah took lead of the Yuuzhan Vong and surrendered to the Galactic Alliance. Ben Skywalker completed his training under the Sword of the Jedi and eventually rose to the rank of a Jedi Master. Over the last few decades, the Jedi Council had seen many of its members come and go.

As Tenel Ka had promised, the crown was handed over to the people of Hapes only months after Sheng Lah led his people into the Unknown Regions. The galaxy seemed to have entered a golden age, but a recent crisis on Hapes proved otherwise. Murra Chume Ta Djo, a Jedi Master, was sent to investigate, but she soon found herself entangled in a royal web of deception and power that originated from her brother.

The story seemed to end when Sil Chume Ta Djo, an ex-Jedi believed to have been murdered by political enemies, resurfaced near Hapes twenty-five years after her 'death'. Unbeknownst to the Jedi, the ultimate nemesis, who will almost rival some Sith enemies of the old, had just been unleashed into the galaxy.

Will the Jedi be able to defend the people from the blood-thirsty vampires who would emerge from their ranks? Would a cloak of darkness eternally dominate the lives of trillions?

Dramatis Personae

Anakin; former Jedi trainee, Prince (male human from Hapes)

Jacen Solo; Jedi Master (male human from Coruscant)

Lavant; Queen Mother/Consort (female human from Hapes)

Murra Djo; Jedi Master, Princess (female human from Hapes)

Prestor Djo; student (male human from no planet in particular)

Sil Djo; ex-Jedi, Princess (female human from Hapes)

Tenel Ka Djo; Jedi Master, former queen (female human from Hapes/Dathomir)

Van'Ya-el Djo; consort, Jedi Knight (male human from Dathomir)

Part I: A New Queen

Chapter One

"Princess, your plan is crazy. I want your sister-in-law off the throne, but you and your consort can't possibly get past all those guards into the throne room." Protested a crewmember of the Hapan Battle Dragon _Trebuchet_ as it approached Hapes. She added, "Unless you plan on destroying the whole palace and hundreds of years of your family's history.."

"This may be crazy, but Van and I have to try. I can't let those bullies take the democracy we worked so hard for." Replied the princess, a woman who, at forty, was as beautiful as any Hapan model. A stately, white gown that flowed like water from her shoulders to the metallic floor would have given the woman the appearance of an angel from Hapan mythology had it not been for the midnight black Jedi robe that enveloped her back, thus preventing any imaginary wings from sprouting.

"But your highness, this is your sister's ship!"

"If my sister was still alive, she would do what I'm doing to restore what she worked for." Murra Djo said out loud On the inside, the woman was unsure of her mission. Thanks to her brother and his wife, guards were many and the Jedi's two light-daggers were not ideal for deflecting multitudes of blaster bolts. Van'Ya-el Djo was a Jedi Knight who wielded the traditional lightsaber, but the Dathomiri man had no experience in real battles. Perhaps the mission will indicate how well Jedi Master Murra Djo had taught her 'slave'.

Without warning, the immense Battle Dragon shook and sent everybody aboard it off their feet. Before anybody could regain footing, the all sources of light flickered and the battleship became as dark as midnight throughout. When the power, accompanied by a surge in the Force, returned, a dark, cloaked figure stood on the platform in the center of the bridge.

_Impossible!_ Murra managed to conjure a single thought through the shockwaves in the Force. Every Jedi had felt the horrible disturbance from her older sister's death twenty-five years ago and she personally witnessed the Force consume her sister for using it to warp time and space. To make things even less feasible, Sil Chume Ta Djo, beneath her cloak, had appeared as she did when she was eighteen years old, except for the pale-gray skin.

Sil allowed her jaw to drop slightly in astonishment as she examined her surroundings. The Force-transport technique had taken her to her home galaxy as she had wished. She had taken a gamble to return home after a thousand years and of all possible places, she was aboard her personal ship.

"How many years has it been since Queen Mother Ta'a Chume opened the Consortium?" The cloaked princess had to know if she landed in the intended time period as well as location.

"Sis, you're alive! You can't be real…" The cloaked woman turned to stare into a pair of large, green eyes that glittered with life and tears of incredulity. The speaker, who appeared to be middle-aged, wore her copper-tinted red hair in an elegant, Hapan style and approached the elevated command post on which Sil stood. The Force confirmed that the woman was an older version of Murra Djo with a Hapan haircut instead of a simple crop at the chin level. "You were killed twenty-five years ago! I felt you die!"

"Emperor's black bones! You ARE real!" the red-headed sister exclaimed as her fingers felt the fabric that covered the other woman's shoulders. Then, in a rush of euphoria, Murra Djo squeezed her sister and the older sister returned the hug. A tear of joy escaped the eye and slid down the younger sister's immaculate face.

"Why sis, you came just in time and WE'RE SAVED! With you here, we'll save these people in no time!" Murra barely managed to whisper as the two sisters tightened their embrace.

"What's going on here? Obviously, there's something that I missed." Sil narrowed her gray eyes.

"Why don't we talk about the last twenty-five years in the mess hall?"

"It's been a thousand years for me and the mess hall seems to be a good place." The pale-gray Sil replied.

"Sis, can ya tell me what's all this commotion on my ship is about?" The darkly robed Sil asked her younger sister as the two women sat down.

"About four or five months after you left, our parents had a son named Anakin. Somehow, he got the notion that he was supposed to be Prince Brat of sixty-three worlds and I'm kicking him off the throne before he and his wife kill any more innocent people. You came at the perfect time, Sil."

"Why?"

"You still have your blood right. With you here in Hapes, Van and I can take care of things on Coruscant." Murra smiled at her older sister and mentally provided her long-lost sister with more history.

"So our cousin Ryva went on a power grab when the galaxy's economy collapsed and the Jedi Order asked you to help them sort things out." The older sister folded her arms and leaned back. Then, after a pause, her eyes narrowed and she added, "Murra, are you telling me that you renounced your right to the throne and set that mob on us?"

"Yeah." Murra lowered her face in shameful resignation. "You're the only person I can trust to restore our mother and grandmother's dream. If you didn't come, I would've had to either stay here and do all the work or put Allya on the throne. I just can't trust her to treat men like equals."

Murra wanted to speak more of her twins, but the time did not seem right and the horrible visions she had when she considered naming either of them heir were far from the perfect topic for a conversation in a mess hall. She could all too clearly remember the visions that were too horrid to describe with words. Murra was thankful when Sil finally ended the train of thought.

"What is the plan? I have a cluster to restore." Sil said as she pulled her Force-presence in. Allya was not a Hapan name, so this mysterious princess could only be descended from Teneniel Djo and Prince Isolder. From the information given by her sister, Sil knew that Princess Allya was too old to be a child of Anakin's, which left the girl to be a daughter of Murra Djo. _Interesting. She sounds like someone I should meet_.

Sil allowed the corners of her lips to twitch slightly. The sixty-three worlds of Hapes were rightfully hers, and with her sister's blood right gone, the previous Queen Mother had no rival daughters in her way. With the help of her sister, and perhaps her niece, she would ensure that the spoiled men would once again learn their place and bow to the women.

"Can you excuse me for a while?" Murra faked a smile as she pushed herself up.

"Sure. What is it, though? I'm curious." Sil leaned forward to shift so that everything about her from her glittering, gray eyes to her perfectly proportioned body spoke of nothing but pure curiosity.

"I gotta go to the refresher and get into my robes before the action starts. Stay here, though. I'll tell you the plan once we get back." Murra was at the door of the mess hall by the time she spoke her last word.


	3. Part I: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Tenel Ka struggled to keep her expression neutral as she felt a disturbance in the Force. She felt the faint, but unmistakable presence of her eldest daughter for the first time in twenty-five years.

When her eyes met Jacen's, she knew that her husband had felt the same disturbance.

"We must return to Hapes." Tenel Ka knew that from the disturbances she felt, Sil had appeared near her home planet and she had a feeling that a party was about to erupt.

The Hapan sun counted amongst one of the bright stars in the galaxy, emitting unimaginable amounts of white-blue light each second. Some of that light landed on the seven moons of Hapes, which redirected the path of the fast-traveling waves to illuminate the Hapan night. Of that light, a small fraction traveled through a bedroom window in Fountain Palace and bounced off of a pair of dark, indigo blue eyes, a few locks of elegant, straight hair that resembled dark chocolate, and a handsome, sad face.

Prince Anakin could not help but doubt his actions as he retired to his chambers. His marriage to Senator Lavant had made up for his lack of political power that he had as a male, but the former Jedi could not approve of everything she did. Although Prince Anakin did not choose the path of a Jedi, it was still difficult for him to watch and listen as the woman he put on the throne ordered all the tortures and executions. At least he was not another dead Jedi Knight named Anakin. _Especially not a one with blue eyes and a pretty face._

The prince wished for a different queen on Lavant's throne, but he could not safely dispose of the former senator. If he divorced her, he would have to find another woman in order for him to stay in power as a prince and Lavant would have him killed. Then again, life with Lavant was a small price to pay for the powers of a prince, especially after he worked so hard to convince the galaxy that he, like any traditional prince, would take no family name.

"We are approaching the palace, um, Princesses." The captain of the _Trebuchet_ announced as the ship approached the royal palace.

"Drop us in front of the entrance." Ordered Sil, who took command of the Battle Dragon as soon as her sister finished the story. She then turned to the red-headed Murra. "Ironic we have to infiltrate the home from where we once ruled, is it not?"

"Sis, we were senators, not rulers. I didn't even want that power. You dragged me into politics."

"Our mother may have given her throne for a democracy, but we were still viewed as royal princesses. It was the least you could do to fill the role you were born to play."

"Sil! You 're as annoying as ever." Murra retorted.

"You have not changed a bit, either, little sister." The other woman replied, emphasizing her last two words. She then ordered the crew of the Battle Dragon, "Cover us. Make sure everything goes right."

"Yes, ma'am." The crew saluted in unison.

The princess removed her hood as she viewed the Hapan night scene from the viewport. It was good to be able to dress comfortably without having to worry about cremation under the sun. She had wanted to push forth her remarks, but chuckled instead. She would not turn and kill her little sister in front of the _Trebuchet_'s crew. No, she would drink her sister's blood another time, in private.

_Should we jump, Murra?_ The dark haired Dathomiri mentally asked the younger princess as he joined the two sisters in the airlock. The man did not stand tall, but his mud colored skin, Force presence, and jet black hair, with the help of his piercing, blue eyes, gave him the persona of the imposing shade, making the people around him always think twice about their actions. He crouched as his muscles tensed, adding a predatory sense to his profile.

Murra responded with a nod. She then said to her consort, "Van, here, it's okay to speak up. Sil, are you sure you can do it by yourself?"

When the older sister smiled and nodded, Murra and her consort dived toward the palace in unison. Then, drawing upon what remained of her connections to the Force, the older princess followed suit.

Murra opened herself to the Force to slow and guide her descent. For a moment, she felt that in the midst of the reunion, something was horribly evil and wrong. She shook the thought off as soon as it came. She could not afford to doubt when she could hit the ground any minute. _Probably my brother. Hapan politics must have brought out his darkest side and he wasn't trained to fight it off, though he thought he was._ Murra heard the thought from her husband, not knowing the irony of what she had picked up.

As Murra landed softly on her feet, she brought her right hand to the hilt of one of her twin sabers. She could definitely see why her sister insisted upon attacking by night, as there were no guards in sight. She glanced over her shoulder to check for her sister and her husband.

Slowly but carefully, the three royals approached the closed entrance to the palace. When Murra found the large, wooden doors locked, she stepped back. Then, in a sweeping motion too fast for the unaided eye to follow, Murra brought her muscular leg up and kicked the door. When the doors refused to open, she gave it more kicks.

"Princess Murra, are you sure this is wise? We're getting way too much attention." Van'Ya-el Djo whispered to his wife.

"C'mon, we got a whole Battle Dragon protecting us. If you're still not confident, watch our backs." Murra replied as she pushed further into the palace.

"Halt!" The trio found several blasters at their necks.

"I come to claim the throne that rightfully belongs to the first-born daughter of Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo. Guards, take me to the current holder of the throne that I may win back my Consortium in a fair, traditional duel." Sil showed her face and lazily waved the blasters aside. Murra struggled to hide her shock. Never, in her fifteen years with her sister, had she seen Sil Chume Ta Djo use, no, abuse her royal powers and Force abilities like that.

"Y-your royal highness, the prince and, um, his consort, are asleep at the moment." One of the guards stammered.

"Bring me to them or wake them up and bring them to me." The older sister snapped coldly.

"As you wish, Chume Ta Sil. Follow me."

"Princess Murra, do you accompany your sister or do you also wish to duel for the throne? Same goes for you, sir." A short, male guard inquired as the group followed the head guard to Prince Anakin.

"I'm helping my sis, as is my consort, Van'Ya-el." Murra replied curtly.

"A Jedi like yourself, I see." Noted another guard. Van wanted to talk, but he did not have the strength to overcome his shy nature in the royal environment. Even though he long knew that his wife was a princess, it was the first time he set foot in her palace.


	4. Part I: Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Prince Anakin awoke to the snap-hiss of a lightsaber.

"Hand over the crown, and all will go easy." Anakin heard an unfamiliar feminine voice from the direction of the lightsaber. _Teaching odd stuff and barging in at midnight? These Jedi just get crazier and crazier_. The prince thought.

"Guards, arrest this intruder and get her outta here." The young man yawned his order before attempting to return to sleep.

"I'm afraid we cannot. They come to challenge you for the throne and we have sworn our loyalty to them first." Came the voice of the head guard.

"I can't believe you called this pathetic thing our brother!" The same, strange voice complained.

"But sister-in-law, look at how much he looks like you!" The replier sounded familiar to the prince.

"He may have a bit of my blood, but this pitiful creature is no sibling of mine!" The other female rejected. "You sure have good taste, Murra. Cute and smart."

Shock crept over Anakin's face when he recognized the green blade from one of Murra's lightsabers. Because of the difference in age and the time at which the prince was born, the two siblings were never close, but he never expected such betrayal from the Jedi Master. Judging from the conversation, Anakin guessed the other speaker to be the older sister he had never met.

_This cannot be! _ Anakin thought. Like the rest of the family, she despised him. For years, he had hoped for her ghost to appear and assure him that there was at least one Solo who approved of his actions. When reality sank in, the prince cursed himself for ever having hope in his eldest sister. His two sisters, from what he had heard, were close in terms of both ideology and friendship.

"Murra, you have some nerve coming here with a ghost. And Van, I can't believe you'd let her do it." The young man glared at his sisters as he landed on his bare feet. It was a good thing that Prince Anakin had on enough garments to cover him but none of the usual royal attire that would have restrained movement.

"Every Jedi Master has a lot of what you call 'nerve'." The redheaded Princess Murra replied in a sub-zero tone.

"The crown and the throne rightfully belong to the firstborn daughter. Hand those over, and nobody will get hurt." The other sister stated as she sent out an empty hand.

"I'm afraid I have nothing to give you. You will have to take it all from Lavant." The young man hoped to stall for time.

"The prince is right. You will have to take it all from me!" the speaker, apparently female, emphasized the last word. She then continued arrogantly, "You see, I am the Queen Mother."

Murra spun around to see the figure of Lavant behind her. A blaster bolt came for the princess, but an emerald green blade sent the shot harmlessly into the ceiling. More shots came from the same direction, and her lightsaber spun to meet each attempt.

There was another snap-hiss, and Murra Djo's second half-sized saber joined its twin in battle. The attacker fired more shots at the woman. Tired of being attacked, the princess sent each bolt back in the direction of the owner of the blaster.

"Lights." The shots stopped, and after minutes of eerie silence, the shorthaired princess finally called for lights. The attacker was none other than the reigning queen. The open eyes gazed blankly at the ceiling and the fingers of her outstretched hand were loosely wrapped around the blaster. It was obvious that deflected blaster bolts had hit the woman. Murra's eyes betrayed her surprise at the accuracy, for she had not activated her lightsabers in years.

"Looks like you sisters win." One of the guards noted.

"Not yet." The older sister said. She strode down the corridor toward the limp form of Queen Mother Lavant. The princess bent and removed the crown from the body on the floor. She grinned beneath her veil as she checked the pulse. The ex-Jedi then placed the crown on her own head. "She's dead. Since she has no eligible daughters, the crown goes to me."

"No…." The prince's voice was barely audible. Apparently, Princess Murra's skill at deflecting shots back at the shooter had not deteriorated, for it would take at least three consecutive stun shots to kill.

"Anakin," Murra stared her brother squarely in the eye. "What you did to our people was unforgivable."

"Guards, bind this traitor." The older sister ordered. Murra's eyes darted between her two siblings. Apart from chocolate colored hair and the icy blue eyes, Anakin was a male version of their sister.

"Murra, you must understand, I didn't do any of it! I don't have the power to stop the Queen Mother." The prince protested.

"You had the power to decide who sat on the throne. You could have removed her at any given time." The second sister gave her brother no room to argue.

"Carbon-freeze this traitor." The new Queen Mother ordered her guards.

Anakin inclined his head and raised his hands in defeat. Deep inside, he knew that he may as well have slain with a lightsaber all of the people Lavant executed.

"Thank you for your mercy, sister." The prince gave a slight but charming smile. He knew that his sister was showing mercy in sentencing him to life, if only a frozen life. In the past centuries, when Hapan women forced their siblings and other relatives off the throne, death was certain. As he was marched toward the carbon-freezing chamber, Anakin could not help but wonder why his sister wanted him alive.

Sensing worry from some of the guards, the new queen assured, "He will be in perfect hibernation and thus of no trouble to us."

"My princess, aren't you going to help your brother? Sure, he's made a few bad choices, but…" Van'Ya-el, his face aghast, protested to his wife.

"No." Murra then explained Hapan tradition to her husband. She then sighed, "It's tradition. He's lucky to even stay alive."

"So that's why you come up with an excuse every time I want to see this place."

Yes, dear. That's why. I don't like these rules and I really don't like the fact that I can't do anything about them. Murra thought at her husband.

Jacen's finger hit his temple as he felt a slight surge in the Force. _Anakin… Murra… Sil… Hapes._ Something happened to Anakin on Hapes, but from the apparent ripple, Jacen could feel no harm befell any of his children. From his current location in the Unknown Regions, it would take several standard weeks to reach Hapes, but time was too scarce.

"Hi, Grandpa." Prestor Djo's hologram appeared when Jacen contacted Murra's apartment.

"I need to speak with your mother."

"Mom and Dad are doing a favor for Uncle Ben; it's just Allya and me." Jacen commenced his holo-message to Ben after a casual chat with his grandson.


	5. Part II: Chapter 4

Dramatis Personae

Allya Djo; Jedi Apprentice, student (female human)

Ben Skywalker; Jedi Master (male human from Coruscant)

Jacen Solo; Jedi Master (male human from Coruscant)

Murra Djo; Jedi Master, Princess (female human from Hapes)

Prestor Djo; Jedi apprentice, student (male human)

Sil Djo; ex-Jedi, Queen Mother (female human from Hapes)

Tenel Ka Djo; Jedi Master, former queen (female human from Hapes/Dathomir)

Van'Ya-el Djo; consort, Jedi Knight (male human from Dathomir)

Part II: Return of the Royals

Chapter 4

"My sister, do you have any royal heirs?"

"What are you talking about? Aren't you going to restore what our mother set up?" Murra nearly screamed at her older sister as they strode toward the audience chamber.

"Idealistic as ever, I see. A democracy would never work for this Consortium. If I bring it back, it'll be only a matter of time before one of our cousins takes the throne." It was difficult for Murra to make out any body language that her sister's scarlet veil might have hidden.

"You're right." Murra inclined her head and admitted. All doubt of her sister vanished as Murra recognized the cynical attitude toward their grandmother's form of government. "But don't you have any heirs?"

"I don't know. I gave birth to one in another universe, but it's been more than 900 standard years since I last saw him. I don't even know if he's still alive."

"So we both lost kids. My twins are sixteen." Murra wanted to gasp in horror, but her memories stopped her. It was only a standard year ago that the Force delivered the news of Tia's death, and even less time since she was presented with the child's clothes. The memory of striking Anakin and her twins with lightning was still vivid, for she would have fully returned her brother's favor had she not been stopped.

Flashback

"Uncle Anakin!" Came the horrified scream of Murra's son, Prestor. The artificial light generated by the woman's Force-lightning flashed across the boy's indigo blue eyes.

"H-help me! My sister's gone nuts!" Anakin gasped between jolts of torture from his sister. His blue eyes were filled with despair as he pleaded with his nephew and niece, who had just arrived in the apartment.

Indecision swept across the Jedi apprentice as he witnessed the scene, but it ended merely seconds later in the snap-hiss of a Jedi lightsaber. Suddenly, Murra found herself throwing lightning at her son's metallic blue weapon.

"Prestor, don't listen to him! He killed Tia!" Murra growled as she searched for a way for her lightsaber to circumvent her son's saber.

"I swear by the Force I didn't!" Anakin screamed as he struggled to drag his pained body into an upright position.

"Then why is Tia dead?" Murra questioned her brother, emphasizing the second word as she spoke. The voltage of the Force-lightning increased, and Prestor, unable to stand firm, was hurled ten meters backwards. The lightsaber slid through Prestor's fingers and deactivated as the boy hit the ceiling. The boy landed in a chair, but a clumsy try at rolling put him back on the floor. Prestor attempted to recall his weapon to his hand as many Jedi had done in battle, but to no avail, for a more powerful Force-wielder had already claimed the weapon.

"I couldn't… AAAAHHHHH!" Anakin screamed as lightning once again struck his battered form.

_If your mother kills me… the Jedi will… your reputation will suffer!_ Murra caught the fragments of a thought that her brother was apparently aiming at Prestor's twin, who regarded the whole incident with a neutral expression on her face. It made sense to use such words to persuade Allya, for she had always been the most selfish of her peers.

A mere fraction of a second later, a pair of lightsabers snapped to life and there were once again obstacles between Murra and her brother. Blue clashed with green and Murra's lightning could not pass through the thick point where two sabers intersected. Allya, the most powerful of Murra Djo's children, was protecting her uncle with twin lightsabers.

Prestor's laser-like weapon began to flicker, and the girl, sensing the overloaded presence in the Force, dropped and deactivated the borrowed saber.

End of flashback

"So the whole time we thought you were dead you're actually lost in another realm where time doesn't pass?"

_Technically, I'm still dead._ Sil thought, but she decided that then was not the time to reveal her fangs. "That pretty much sums it up. Who are all the heirs to my throne?"

_Don't remember her being this cocky._ Murra resisted the temptation to groan and answered. "I don't know much about our cousins."

"I'll send for my twins." Murra's emerald eyes lit up as she broke the silence. It was time for her children to realize their true identity and perhaps a few royal lessons from Aunt Sil would cure Allya's attitude problem. A mental nudge from Van prompted Murra to add, "Sis, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to go."

"What's the rush?"

"I'm only here because Ben asked me to find out what's going on here. The rest of the council wants me to find out what's really happening with Ryva on Coruscant."

"Ah, yes. I forgot. Can you do your sister one last favor?" Sil carefully selected her words. Murra Chume Ta Djo was a powerful ally and not to be angered.

"Well, alright. Not another lofty job, right?" Murra's eyes lit up to match her short, glossy curls.

"Actually, yes." Sil chuckled. "Can you take this scepter and spread the word of change on your way out?"

"Sure."

"Thank you, Princess and Viceroy. May the sixty-three worlds favor you." Sil gave the proper response to her sister's acceptance, for the scepter symbolized orders in absence of the Queen Mother.

"Jacen, I sent Murra to Hapes to find out who killed my wife! My information and my daughters' investigation all pointed to something dangerous in Hapes. I can't risk these girls and you're in the Unknown Regions, so I had to ask Murra for the favor." Ben explained to his cousin over the HoloNet.

"There's trouble there. I sensed several disturbances in the Force." Jacen replied.

"Murra's one of our most capable Jedi Masters and Van's a good fighter himself. And unless the Force is failing me, Anakin and Sil are there to help."

"That's the problem." Jacen almost sighed. "I don't think she'll help much."

"Why not?" The younger cousin appeared puzzled.

"She's too Hapan and she sees other royals as rivals. She'll do whatever profits her the most."

"Well, you're the father and you knew Sil better than I do. If Murra or Anakin ever call for help, I'll send someone over." Ben assured his cousin.

"Ben, Murra's not going to call for help."

"Jacen, you're sure? If it's big enough, I trust that any Jedi Master will bring the issue before the council."


	6. Part II: Chapter 5

Note: Stupid virus ate a good chunk of this chapter and the next one, so I had to do a rewrite. Unfortunately, I lost some very witty and interesting exchanges, so this is not as good as it should be.

Chapter 5

_Was I right to let my sister do it?_ Murra wondered as her convoy traveled through hyperspace. The princess examined the cool scepter in her hands before lifting her gaze. _Nah._ She thought as she scanned her family holos. _He deserves worse than being frozen in carbonite. I had him watch Tia and he left her home alone so she could step out that window. She would have been much better off with the twins in the Jedi Academy. He'd be dead if Van didn't tie me up._

"My princess, you lean dangerously close to the dark side." Van admonished. He was propped against his left elbow at the entrance to the bedchamber.

"You're right. You know, I shouldn't be thinking about him at all." Murra admitted. Few Jedi knew of the horrific struggles with the dark side that hid behind the angelic face of an apparently immaculate Jedi Master.

"Even for a princess, you have interesting siblings." Van noted.

"Sure, it's in the blood. Let's see here, a former Chief of State and the leader of the Jedi were twins, as were General Solo and the Jedi Master who lived through being one with the Force…"

"Princess, that's not what I'm getting at. I'm here to talk about you and your sister." The dark-haired man seated himself beside his wife.

"Oh, what about us?" Murra inquired, confused despite the bond she and Van shared as husband and wife.

"The way you dealt with your brother's lady, you seemed to let your hatred drive you." Van lowered his gaze and forced himself to speak. Having been raised in a matriarchal culture, the man could not easily bring himself to speak of women, especially women in his family, in a critical manner.

"She was shooting at us. I couldn't let her torture my people anymore! Not after what happened to Dagger." Murra digested the information from her husband before finally speaking. She was not sure what happened exactly, but somehow, at least three of the deflected shots had hit her sister-in-law in the heart and Lavant, as a result, became one with the Force. The princess then added shakily, "What could I do? Ben asked us to come here to find out who's behind Crestal's death, and we saw Lavant usurping all this power and killing thousands of innocent people in addition to Crest. Sithspit! I'm a princess here!"

"And I'm your consort. I guess never mind that one." One of Van's sand-colored hands landed gently on the woman's shoulders.

"There's something else?"

"This'll be difficult for you to hear, but something is horribly wrong about your sister. I don't know what it is, but I sensed something really dark in her. Dark and greedy. She's not the wonderful girl you always talked about." Van blurted, struggling to find the right words.

"Yeah right! My sister could never be evil. I think you got the wrong person." Murra denied as she pounded her fist on her lap.

"I know this is hard for you to hear, and even harder for me to say, but search your feelings." Van requested.

"Go, arrange the transport. I think I need time alone, as much as I hate it."

"Sure, my love." The man muttered as he strode off, leaving his wife to ponder on his words.

_Search your feelings…_ The voice echoed in Murra Djo's head. She felt the texture of her nearly flawless skin as her fingers ran through her short, silky bangs. Like all Hapans, Murra easily defied the aging process that dominated many women of her age and species.

As much as Murra Djo hated to admit, there was much truth in her husband's words. Why had she not seen it all before?

Flashback

"There is no death, there is the Force." Murra listened proudly as her eighteen-year-old sister recited the Jedi code. Then, to everyone's surprise, Sil added, "Jedi Masters, if you don't mind, I would like to leave the order."

"But why? You have just been knighted." One Jedi voiced the question many had wished to ask.

"Exactly. My training's complete, so I'm finally ready to serve my people."

"But you will be serving your people as Jedi Knight."

"I am Hapan. Being Jedi Knight would require more than that, so I, because of my duties as princess, politely refuse."

"Your mother was Queen and Jedi at the same time." Argued the Councilor.

"Times change and time is short, so please, excuse me." Before the Masters could use any further arguments to dissuade Sil, the ex-Jedi disappeared, leaving behind not even a speck of dust for the others to follow. Enraged and surprised, Murra followed after her sister's Force presence, eventually catching the older girl in the hangar.

"Sis, what are you doing?" Asked Murra as she attempted to block her older sister's path.

"What we were born to do." Replied Sil.

"Just what do you mean by that?" Asked the fifteen-year-old. Then her eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute. You're not going to Hapes, are you?"

"I am, and I ask that you get a pardon from your Master and come with me for a while. You'll be serving our people." Sil half-grinned.

End of Flashback

Anger sizzled in Murra's veins as she realized the truth of her sister's intentions. _I was a fool all these years. How could she betray us all like that?_ Blood rose to Murra's face as drop after drop of rare, warrior's tears slid down her flawless cheeks.

"Set a course back for Hapes." Murra commed her husband and the pilot, both of whom sat in the cockpit.

"But we have orders from the Queen Mother…" Protested the pilot.

"Do what she says. You don't want to be on my wife's bad side." Admonished the wary husband.


	7. Part II: Chapter 6

Chapter 6

In the back of a large classroom, a human girl with dark skin and long, brown hair sat amidst a diverse group of classmates. She felt the Bothan instructor's evanescent but icy gaze.

"I know this is early, but sleeping is not allowed in class." The history teacher admonished blandly before returning to her lecture. Allya wanted to grumble, but stopped. Nobody in the room knew what it was like to be a Jedi twin, especially twin to her brother, who kept her up through a good portion of the night by chatting with Grandpa over the HoloNet. The reflection on the girl's datapad told her that at least one insect seemed to have made a nest of her long, dark hair.

Questions began to form in Allya's mind as her instructor spoke of the various events that occurred during the reign of Teneniel Djo, but she held them back. Allya had the feeling that she was missing something.

"Twenty-five years after the Battle of Yavin, the Yuuzhan Vong invaded our galaxy. Conflict arose in the Consortium when Leia Organa Solo pleaded for assistance from Teneniel Djo. Isolder dueled Archon Thane to send the fleet to Fondor. Three-fourths of the Hapan forces were destroyed, but the Teneniel Djo was quick to act and rebuilt her cluster's forces in the Transitory Mists." For once, Allya listened attentively in her history class.

"Her operation was secret, and Djo was poisoned as the ships were built. Her unwilling Jedi daughter, Tenel Ka, surprised many by taking the crown." The Bothan continued in her monotonous voice.

_WHAT? There's gotta be a mistake!_ Allya's lime colored eyes widened as her jaw dropped. Her grandmother was a Jedi Master and a witch who stepped into the modern galaxy, not some queen of sixty-three worlds.

"Yes, Allya?"

"Nothing. Sorry." The girl finally realized that she was gaping. _Perhaps this is the princess in my class._ Allya picked up her teacher's thought through the Force. She grinned. Of all the possible times for those ysalamiri to wander away from her classroom, they did it when the most interesting thought occurred in the teacher's head.

The galaxy had undergone much change since the days of the Yuuzhan Vong wars, and sending Jedi teens to public high schools was the latest one. Because of the fear of Force powers, ysalamiri became popular school pets. However, it was agreed that should there be any danger in a school with Jedi students, the Force-repelling lizards would be driven out and lightsabers would be handed to their owners. _Sithspit! I'll have to wait eight hours to see that lightsaber!_

The lecture continued, but the details of Tenel Ka Djo's reign flew past Allya's unhearing ears. _So I might be a Hapan princess, wonderful._

"Tenel Ka Djo concluded her reign by delegating the powers of the throne to the Hapan people. She is the last and most unique of the Hapan Queen Mothers in that she was the only Jedi to have ever ruled sixty-three worlds. During the Yuuzhan Vong wars, she secretly married Jedi Master Jacen Solo and had two daughters. The eldest stayed in Hapes and the second was sent into hiding on the desert planet of Dathomir." The Bothan droned, unaware of the bored expressions on her students' faces.

Allya's eyes began to wander as the summaries of various historical events appeared on the datapad in front of her. A wave of repulsion hit the girl as she spotted the Gamorrean to her left. The slobber, which was typical of the people, was only centimeters away from the student's datapad. The Twi'lek behind the mucus-covered giant seemed to take no notice as she gracefully twitched her plum colored lekkus. The behavior was typical of Oola Secura, or just Secura, as she was constantly referred to. Like Allya, Secura was also a Jedi apprentice who spent more time with average beings in public schools than the Jedi Academy.

"Even after their mother relinquished the throne, Princesses Sil and Murra continued to play roles in the Hapan government for four years. Forty-three years after the Battle of Yavin, dissatisfied traditionalists made a brutal attack on the sisters. Princess Murra tried to appease them by renouncing her blood right, but it only furthered the resolve to eliminate the royal Jedi. Both sisters disappeared. The former Queen Mother announced Murra to be alive on another planet and deemed her first daughter dead."

Allya bit back her disbelief as she absorbed the story. All of the names mentioned in the stories matched the ones from what she knew of her mother's family's history, but there was no way Allya could be a royal Hapan. _What was I thinking then? I'm not supposed to dream about the best._

Flashback

"Mama, who is she? She's as pretty as you." The five-year-old Allya held up a holo of a teenage girl. A pair of gray eyes peered over a scarlet veil, which hid the lower half of the young woman's face. The person's orange-streaked, light brown tresses were held together in an ethereal fashion.

An expression that Allya later learned to recognize as pain swept over Murra's face before the reply finally came. "She's your Aunt Sil. She was only three years older than me."

"Is this her, too?" Prestor's blue eyes glittered as he revealed a holo of the same person, only wearing simple, midnight black Jedi robes instead of some beautifully decorated dress.

"Yeah, my sis was a Jedi like the rest of us, even though she didn't like to admit it." A rare, Jedi tear seemed to slide down Murra Djo's cheek as she spoke.

"Where is she?" The male twin asked their mother.

"She's everywhere. She's one with the Force."

End of flashback

"Lights out!" The classroom darkened at the furred teacher's order. "As promised, these holos and this holo-vid will conclude our Hapan unit. Your test will be next time."

"These are holos from the Treaty of Yuuzhan'tar." The instructor punched a code into some device and datapads throughout the classroom displayed a younger, regally dressed Tenel Ka Djo, flanked by two girls and at least a dozen guards.

Realization sank into the young woman as she recognized the smaller girl as her mother and the other one as the aunt she had occasionally heard of. _Why had Mother kept the knowledge of the Hapan royals from me? Why did Grandmother and grandfather play along with the act?_ Allya suddenly grinned. She would confront Mother, and perhaps her grandparents as well, about the matter, but until then, she should focus her efforts on taking advantage of the royal blood.

"Allya Djo, I believe someone is here for you at the main entrance."


	8. Part II: Chapter 7

Note: I'm about to borrow a joke from someone named Falco. The idea for that prank belongs to him, but everything else is mine. BTW, if you want the unaltered version of Falco's story (I changed a few words around to avoid using Earthisms), say so and I'll tell the story in reply. Also, this next post is based on some of my experiences.

Hapan translated into English in this case

Chapter 7

The indescribable gut feeling nagged Prestor as the teacher described aspects of the matriarchal society of Hapes. Perhaps that feeling was one of emptiness. Whatever Prestor felt, it came from the something deep inside and partially hidden. The feeling was nothing new, for it drove the young man to choose Hapan as his foreign language four years ago. When Prestor heralded his decision to learn Hapan and attempted to explain the gut feeling, his mother's reaction was the most unpleasant he had seen up to that time. The boy had kept quiet since, but he eventually began to suspect a strong connection between his mother and the Hapans. It would explain why the feeling increased in magnitude as he learned more and more about the unnaturally elegant people.

Prestor Djo snapped out of his thoughts when the class erupted in laughter. He could not help but join his friends as he glanced at the display in front of the class. 'Could you scratch my back? I'm a screen, so I don't have the hands to do it myself.' The Hapan text on the screen read.

"I don't know who did this but on with the class! I'm sure one of those droids can scratch the back of that spoiled thing." The teacher shouted over the laughter. He then grinned. "Girls, I have some good news for you."

"Can you tell us?" One girl chirped.

"In the Consortium, especially on Hapes, all men bow to women. The proper way for any man to address any woman would be milady, with few exceptions." A groan from some of the boys prompted the roguishly handsome teacher to continue. "The custom does not apply to any family within the last five generations, unless they are related only by marriage."

"What about the royals?" Someone asked. "I heard everyone bow to some of their men."

"That's a little complicated, but I'll try to explain it all. The monarchy's ended, but some of the traditions are still there. If a prince, especially a son of a Queen Mother, has no sisters eligible for the throne, many will bow to him. Of course, he will be addressed as Prince. There are two other exceptions to the tradition within the royal family. As I'm pretty sure you all would know, all men and women bow to the Queen Mother, or Chancellor, if you're talking about the radical changes in the last few decades. The other royal rule is that even if a woman is in his family, a man must bow and address her as either princess or milady. Well, unless he's her father or son. So, do you guys want all the exceptions?"

"Hey, that's why we're in this class! Of course I want to know all of them. Besides, I don't want to make a fool of myself on Hapes." Prestor carefully worded his wish in Hapan and urged the teacher on.

"Alright. There are powerful families who have royal recognition. If one of them is without a female who is able to represent the house, the oldest male can have almost the full rank of a woman. That was the last one. Any volunteers for me to demonstrate the tradition on? All of that will be on the next exam."

"Can I do it?" A girl volunteered. When the teacher gave her a quizzical glance, she quickly switched to Hapan and repeated the question.

"As you wish, milady." The teacher dropped to on knee and bent himself so that his fingertips touched the floor. His figure then gracefully straightened. "Anyone need to see that again?"

Something flashed against the teacher's face and his gleaming eyes landed on the dark-skinned and black-haired Jedi boy. "And the winner is… Prestor Djo! Someone wants you at the main entrance."

"Dear sister, it is very kind of you to bless us with your presence. You have such a good taste in men, my dear sister." Sil greeted Murra with a falsely warm voice and a well-practiced expression of joy in front of the servants as she hugged her sister and led Murra sister into the palace. As she felt her sister's clothes and veil against her skin, the splendor of the royal clothes almost made Murra reel back in revulsion.

"You." Murra growled, ignoring her sister's flattery. Like her mother, she was a blunt woman who took little time to reach the point of any discussion. "We need to talk to you about what you had done and why you left the Jedi Order."

"My sister, why would you want to discuss such a topic after twenty-five years?" Gasped Sil. "I left the Jedi Order for the sake of my image in the eyes of the Ni'Korish. Besides, I wanted to devote my full time to this cluster."

"Our mother did just that for fifteen years, and she never left the Jedi Order." Murra argued.

"Our mother was a queen. The powers of a princess, especially one is such a democratic place, are considerably weaker." Sil countered.

"Sister, you have left the Jedi Order for another reason. Tell me."

"It is not fitting to say it to a Jedi Master such as you. Especially not one who is about to be on that grand council." Sil replied as the shoes of the two sisters clicked against the cold, stone floor.

"Then think of it as confiding in your only sister."

"I do not like the restrictions placed by the Jedi. I could only be free if I left their order and freed myself from their rules and laws."

"What do you mean?" Murra was bewildered at her sister's explanation.

"The Jedi pamper their males too much! They could never agree with my ideals, so I left before any of them had an excuse to interfere with me. I have discovered long-forgotten ways of the Force, but those Jedi forbade me to use them, even when it meant power for me! I'm not one to let some bunch of old dolts stop me from using the Force to its fullest." The older sister ranted.

"I see. Then I have no choice but to challenge you for the throne." Murra stopped before her sister and brought her emerald saber to life with the push of a button and saluted.

"You make a grave mistake, sister." The last word dripped with sarcasm. A pale hand freed the stud from Sil's belt and a white saber illuminated the corridors of the palace. "In fact, it'll send you to your grave."

"I believe you are overconfident." Murra charged at her sister. Green clashed with white merely centimeters from the faces of the two sisters.

"I think not." Sil hissed in her sister's face. Then, with a flick of her wrist, she sent Murra tumbling backwards into the rails that separated the woman from a deadly plummet to the duracrete basement of the palace. Sil then proposed. "Sister, I offer you to join me in immortality. Just let me have your blood. Together, we can rule this galaxy! Just think about it, two undead sisters, nearly impossible to kill, ruling a galaxy ripe for night for eternity!"

"I will NEVER join you!" Murra shouted at her sister. She replied as she recovered and pressed attacks against her sister. Floor-length, regal robes swirled and mopped the palace floors as Sil turned each defensive move into a near-fatal attack. Within five moves, Murra was once again retreating backwards, only that this time, she was on her feet.

"Then DIIEEEE!" Sil summoned all the energy she could through her anger and launched a series of attacks against her sister.

Murra struggled to block each move and to stand firm in a blithering storm of pain, rage, and hatred. She managed to beg as she retreated right and back, "Sil, whatever happened to you, we can reverse it!"

"Murra, I'm coming!" Van threw himself at the scene as he activated his neon blue lightsaber.

"Wow, typical hero! Shields, stop this slave!" Sil commented sarcastically as she erected an invisible barrier between the battleground and Van'Ya-el Djo with a mere order. She smiled amusedly as her brother-in-law slammed into an invisible wall. "Wow, what a priceless expression. Sister, remember, this is our duel, and neither shall have backup."

Murra stood horrified as her husband slammed, seemingly in slow-motion, into a wall that he could not see. Her lightsaber blade disappeared as the stud clashed against the mosaic on the floor. She began to dash madly at her love, but she was forced to come to a halt before a silver blade at her chest.

"You have a battle to finish. It's a shame you restrict yourself from joining me in un-death." Sil's voice was fraught with cold sarcasm.


	9. Part II: Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Sil, it's not too late to return from the dark side! Repent, and I'll bring you before the Jedi Order!" Murra pleaded as she summoned her lightsaber to her right hand and ignited it. Angered by her sister's words, Sil swung her weapon to chop her sister to pieces, but was surprised to meet resistance almost instantly.

Sil flipped backwards to avoid her sister's slashes. When Sil glanced around at her new surroundings, shock consumed her as she realized that she had landed neatly in a turbolift. As the lift took Sil up, Murra used the Force to leap over the rails and toward the fourth floor. As Murra began to fall, invisible hands wrapped around her waist and she moved up again. The red-haired woman's fingers wrapped around the railing on the fourth floor of the palace and used the well-trained muscles in one of her arms to flip her onto the stone flooring. The woman neatly landed feet-first as the fringes of her robes clashed against the floor. She nodded a quick thank-you to her husband before turning her attentions to Sil.

"Please, sister, open up to me! I'm sure whatever happened, the Jedi can heal you!" The younger sister begged with jewel-like tears in her emerald green eyes as soon as Sil emerged from the turbolift.

Sil ignored her sister's pleading as she pranced around the circular railing. Her intense scowl was just above the moons' illuminating lights.

"Please, Sil!" Murra screamed her heartfelt words through her half-suppressed sob.

"You expect me to open up in the middle of a fight. I think that's too much for now." The palace became silent as the sisters glared at each other through hateful eyes. The silence was shattered when Sil reactivated her lightsaber and gestured for the duel to continue. Murra gave a barely audible sigh and saluted with her green saber. The two sisters pranced about half the circumference of the railing that encircled the center of the palace, each scanning for a weakness in the other and not daring to strike too soon.

Sil's patience was running low and she decided to test her opponent by hurling lightning across the diameter of the center of Fountain Palace. She mentally cursed as her sister caught and contained the dark energy. There was an obvious reason why Murra was granted the rank of Jedi Master.

Sil, finally tired of waiting, leapt over the railing with feline grace and lunged at her sister, her lightsaber ready to bisect the other woman at any minute. In response, Murra sent herself flying over the meter-tall rails and two lightsabers clashed in midair with a deafening crack.

"_YOU…" _Sil hissed as she twisted her wrist to free her lightsaber., sending Murra backwards slightly.

"_ASKED…"_ Just as Murra rebounded, Sil hissed through another slashing attack. The word barely escaped her lips as the two powerful swords clashed again.

"_FOR…"_ Sil twisted her sword of white light as if it were the spirit of death.

"_ME…"_ The older sister gave another word and another attempt at the life of the other woman. Murra swung her lush, green saber, as if it were the sword of life from Hapan myths, to meet her sister's deadly attack.

"_TO…"_ The word sounded like venom to Murra's ears as lightsabers hummed and clashed in midair, with each owner trying to bring down the other. Only the deadly force of the hits kept the two floating, until Murra, with several skillful flicks of her wrist, sent the sisters in opposite directions.

_"OPEN…" _Sil hissed as she and Murra landed on opposite sides of the circular railing.

_"UP…"_ A gush of wind whipped Sil's face and freed her ankle-length, loose hair from the constraints of her clothes as she made a final aerial attack. Both sisters gathered all the power they could harness through the Force as their lightsabers clashed once again like deadly thunder. When the noise died down, Sil hissed in her sister's face. She then screamed almost as if she was feral. "I shall open up!"

Sil's long, light brown hair stood flowed wildly as she conducted the raw powers of darkness as if it were electricity. She enjoyed each and every single wave of pain, bloodguilt, hatred, fear, and anger as each emotion gave her a thoroughly refreshing, dark bath.

Murra never braced herself for the flood of darkness that threatened to swallow and suffocate her mind. She looked around but could not see, for there was no light in the dark creature that she was forced to call 'big sister'. She reached deeper, but still not even a crack of light that could mean dawn for the older sister. Murra finally reached the core of her sister's mind and found nothing but death and a darkness that made night appear to be child's play.

Murra felt the flames of wrath, the tendrils of blood thirst, no, the addiction to murder, and hatred amongst other feelings that originated from the dark side of every sentient being. There was not a trace of the girl who agreed to help maintain balance in the Force. _But how could that be? Sil was so strong, so brilliant? How could you become so bloody? Why are you so dark that no even a ray of light escapes your presence anymore? Why? Why? You can't be gone, sis! You just can't! No! I can't accept it. Ever. No!_ Her anguished thoughts soon surged out of her mind and into her throat, forcing a loud, heartfelt scream into the elegant halls of the palace.

"Nooo! Make it stop!" Murra's tormented combination of a scream and a sob echoed through the empty, stone halls of the magnificent, dark palace. How could the dear, older sister of hers betray the younger sibling and torture her nearly to the point of breaking? How could she use such emotional weapons and attempt to kill Murra Chume Ta Djo? How could the sweet, shining beacon named Sil betray all the Jedi principles she was taught and become so evil and tainted? Murra thought that she had accepted the fact that her sister was no longer the woman she knew and loved, but deep inside, the denial was as intense as it ever was despite her husband's words. She wondered if Sil was torturing for the sake of torture.

She felt her sister probe her mind and found herself frozen and helpless against the probes that searched for the darkness within her. Sil grinned as she touched the part of Murra that always hated and was jealous of that so-called Prince Anakin and the piece of Princess Murra that was created when she became angered at Sil's 'betrayal'.

Sil's grin widened. Jealousy was a good tool, but anger the anger and hatred within her sister's soul were even better. The dark woman touched the anger and pain from Murra's feelings of betrayal and toyed with them in every way imaginable. She should be able to extract a great deal of entertainment from tormenting her sister's good side, perhaps to the breaking point, if it was possible to break a great Jedi Master.

"Don't resist. Embrace the darkness, for either you will embrace it, or you will miss out on a thousand year's worth of opportunities." Sil spoke softly, her whispers licking Murra's tormented ears in the wicked, Hapan moonlight.

Murra wanted to scream no, but she had not the strength, for her sister had touched and strengthened the hatred deep within Princess Murra. Murra found herself facing her hatred for her younger brother. She, despite the fact that Anakin was already hibernating in carbon freeze, found it tempting to transform her hatred into his suffering. She finally capitulated and smiled weakly as she reached out to her evil sister and prepared to give the strongest hug she had ever given to the darkness within herself. Perhaps the darkness was the best thing the Force had ever given her. Perhaps those Jedi really were wrong in all that they taught. Murra whispered with a wavering voice. "I'm sorry, Father, but I can no longer accept what you taught me."

"Very good, little sister. You have made your first steps into the real universe. You hurt whomever you would like to torture because you can. We are strong and we, as the strong, must dominate and take what we want because that is why the Force gave us strength. There is nothing but havoc. There is no peace, there is chaos. There is no serenity, there is passion. There is no knowledge, ignorance rules. There is no death, there is the night." Sil sensed her sister's thought and encouraged her sister's turn toward all that was evil. Murra was not sure if Sil was using the royal 'we' associated with Queen Mothers.

_No. She is wrong. You said so yourself. The Force gave us the power to make it manifest. We can only do that if we use it for the good of others, not anyone's, you're your own sister's, selfish desire_. The red-headed Murra heard a masculine voice in her head as she began to touch the evil within her. She felt warmth combating the icy blizzard of her sister's emotions and felt Van supplying his aid to her bending spirit.

"No, I won't." Murra looked with her eyes rather than with the Force and saw a black aura surrounding her sister's darkly elegant form. She then saw that the two were suspended in midair only by Van's Jedi powers. She deduced that he did it because he did not wish for his beloved wife to fall to her death. Sil deemed it a solo match, yet she did not use ysalamiri to enforce her claim.

Murra took advantage of Sil's surprise and summoned about her all the feelings of love and light that she could hold. The light had transformed the princess into a glowing beacon in the night and in the darkness of her sister's heart. Like all the servants of evil described in fairytale books, Sil shrank away slightly when the light was shone upon her, for she could not stand goodness the way she used to be able to. Sil had given herself wholly to evil, which made it impossible for her to even touch what she had abandoned.

Sil responded by summoning more powers of darkness to her, but Murra, in her glory, was able to neutralize it. Murra's light increased in magnitude until it lit up half of Fountain Palace despite the night. For a second, Murra's glowing light faced off with Sil's darkness as equals, each taking half of the palace. Everything seemed to be as balanced as they were when Anakin Skywalker brought balance to the Force with his death.

Despite Sil's words, Van added his strength to Murra's. He might be just a man, but his wife taught him that men were able make the same differences as well as women. The fates of sixty-three worlds was about to be decided in the duel, with Sil being the evil blanket of darkness and Murra being the sharp edge that was cutting the blanket to shreds. No, Murra was not a lone blade as long as Van was able to help. Together, the two would for a pair of scissors. The dark-haired Van'Ya-el Djo gave more energy to Murra than he ever did before, knowing that she would need all the energy her body could contain in the duel of fates that played itself in the palace.

To upset the balance before her, Sil made another move with her saber and sent her sister hurling down toward the basement of the palace. Servants, who gathered around the circular railings of the lower levels, watched in horror as the Queen Mother cast down her opponent.

As wind whipped Murra's exposed neck and sent her short hair into her face, she realized that in saving her soul, Van had shown himself to his evil sister-in-law and was too given to his wife to pay attention to his own surroundings.

Her Jedi cloak was torn off forcefully as velocity increased. Suddenly, as she descended past the first floor, her fall slowed. Her eyes widened as she felt Van again. Somehow, he had fought off the stun bolt and came back to help her. Her feet barely touched the basement floor when she, with help from the Force, sprang up into the air. As if she were riding through a turbolift, she watched as the first and second levels of the palace scrolled past her.

Murra glanced up and found her old sister descending at a speed that forced the black cloak to open up like a parachute. For a minute, Murra felt as if she was an angel from the Hapan myths ascending to the heavens that only children believed in. _Angel of Light!_ Her aura brightened with each meter-high gain in altitude until it blinded the woman. _Is this heaven? Were all the stories true, then?_

She did not know what she did, but she followed the will of the Force. Just as the woman began to feel the hands of invisible spirits reaching out to lift her out of her physical form, the ecstasy began to fade. Suddenly, Murra awoke and found herself deadlocked in a saberfight with her sister. The descending darkness was struggling to overwhelm the ascending light once again. Limbs and bodies twisted as two lightsaber blades met with deadly cracks time and time again, until Murra send a kick into Sil's abdomen and the older sister fell past the younger.

"Kriff." Murra cursed as she saw Sil just brush by the range of her medium-length saber. With her resistance gone, Murra soared up another level before she followed her sister's plummet.


	10. Part II: Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"You must be Princess Allya. How very unfortunate it is that I have not seen you earlier." Allya encountered a tall, thickly built man as she arrived at the main entrance.

"Yes, it is unfortunate that the only way for Mother to keep us alive was to keep us secret." Allya replied and took advantage of Hapan history in her explanation. The man suddenly dropped to his knees before the Jedi and his hands smacked against the mental floor. Before the girl could react, one of the man's hands lifted off the floor, dug into a pocket and produced the lightsaber that Allya recognized as her own.

"Milady, you will need your valuable weapon. We cannot afford to have another meet the same fate as our late ambassador. Especially not a female heir to the throne."

"The ambassador? This has to do with the ambassador?" Astonishment lit up Allya's green eyes as her sand-colored skin paled slightly.

"Yes, milady."

"Please excuse my ignorance, but allow me to get this straight. The late ambassador was caught in a plot and killed. When Master Skywalker, her husband, found her, he asked my mother to visit Hapes and investigate political matters. And sometime after she went in, royalty of the old became popular sources of allies." Allya finally spoke when she remembered that her grandfather's cousin's wife was a Hapan politician.

"Chancellor Lavant married the your uncle and declared herself Queen Mother. All of a sudden, she went from gentle lady to a ruthless queen who killed everyone whom she suspected of disagreeing with her ideals. Oh thank the Force our princesses rescued us!"

"Princesses?" Allya was puzzled.

"We thought Princess Silnarui was dead, but she appeared as your mother was coming back home. Together, your mother and your aunt put an end to that evil Lavant." The Hapan man explained. "Princess Silnarui took the crown and from what we know about her, we're looking at some sunny days ahead."

"It seems that alls well ends well, except for my aunt's death. Why am I being dragged into all of this if the Hapan people are already in good hands?"

"Princess Allya, your aunt has no daughters and you are next in blood. Your mother requested your presence and political training." The handsome Hapan explained.

Allya wanted to ask about her grandmother's royal cousins but stopped. She knew all that she needed to know for the moment. _So that confirms that I am a princess, and not just any princess but the heir to the Hapan throne. That's sixty-three worlds. I guess with all that political training and with what I know about Hapans, my life will take a few bizarre turns. Can't believe I was naïve enough to think that I could actually control my life._

"Milady, I hope you find your transports pleasing. I offer my humble welcome to the shuttle _White Angel_." Allya did not recognize the speaker's voice. She suddenly found herself sitting before a magnificent, sparkling shuttle that could have only come from the Rifle Worlds of the Hapes Consortium. _Sitting?_ It took a few seconds for Allya to finally realize that she was totally unaware of the change in her surroundings when she apparently left her school and took a seat in a luxurious speeder.

"Princess, this is Chan Jogra, one of the most prominent women in our transport business." The bulky man, who apparently piloted the speeder that carried Allya to the spaceport, introduced the older woman when Chan Jogra stepped out of the shuttle and bowed with the grace of an antelope.

"Nice to meet you, Lady Jogra." Allya greeted in the Hapan that she learned from her brother. The girl froze stiffly when a line of muscular, well-armed women marched from the escort.

"Worry not, your highness, for these are your new bodyguards." Chan assured the princess.

_I'm really losing my mind. I flinched before my own guards just because they looked scary. How could I forget to use the Force to tell that they're paid to PROTECT me?_ Allya thought but said nothing as she hopped out of the speeder and landed squarely on the metal floor of the Coruscanti spaceport.

"Come, princess. Your makeup and royal clothes await you." The man who piloted the speeder had somehow gotten ahead of Allya and was standing before the young princess on the landing ramp. Allya took the hand he proffered and disappeared into her escort.

"You must be the prince." Prestor could barely see the heavily armored giant before him. He glanced to his right and saw an unarmored man bearing the weapons to match the woman's extensive armor.

"Prince? Excuse me, but can you clarify yourself?" When Prestor spotted a speeder with Hapan markings just outside the transparisteel window of the school, he dropped to his knees and bowed before the armored person, whom he labeled as a woman based on the voice.

"I will, once we are outside." The armored person replied. Prestor followed the mysterious woman. As soon as the woman stepped out of the door, the man waiting outside handed her at least a hundred different weapons, each of which she found a slot for in her metallic gear.

When all three were in the waiting speeder, the woman finally explained to Prestor his royal blood and the recent events in the Consortium. _So that's what the Force was trying to tell me by guiding me toward everything that's Hapan._

"Here we are, milord Here, I believe this is weapon is yours." The woman produced a cylinder from a slot in her wrist guard and handed it to Prestor.

The young man thought. _My saber. That means I'll be away on Hapes for quite awhile._ Prestor brushed a lock of jet-black hair away from his face as he gaped in awe. Those Hapans had sent the most beautiful ship he had ever seen.

"Come with us, milord. You shall meet the captain of this shuttle inside. The women in the brown uniforms are your guards, milord. I am their commander." The armored woman pointed out. Prestor saw what she meant when he spotted two different colors of uniforms.

Everybody, human and alien, on the ship was beautiful to the point where they were out of place on Coruscant, but one woman stood out like a Gallinorean ruby mixed with Corusca crystals. Her skin took on a light, earthen tone and she had the correct shades of brown in her hair to perfectly complement her skin. He guessed the tresses to be shoulder length, but he could not confirm it when hairdos and jewelry were layered upon each other like spare parts on a ship. The woman's dress, as if to match her skin and hair, was various shades of red.

The young man fumbled as he bowed before the woman as a sign of respect. As heat crept into his brain, he realized that he had been blushing for an indefinite amount of time. He was thankful that his dark brown skin, which he inherited from his father, was good for hiding every last trace of blood on his face. The prince then noticed a piece of scarlet cloth free from the dress. He followed it up and saw that it originated from some place behind one of her ears. Prestor recognized the royal symbol on the woman. _A veil! That means she's royalty._ _Royal! Why stang! This is Allya! _

"Rise, young prince." The princess before Prestor almost smirked before her brother's wide, blue eyes.

Prestor clenched his fists as he struggled to contain his frustration and anger. How could his sister call him young prince when he was the older twin? How could she be so cruel and use her power as eldest daughter in such a manner? Prestor shook his head slightly and drove out the thoughts, for he knew that Hapans saw their first daughters as second only to the mother of the house and because of the custom, the people in the room would merely ignore him. _So embarrassing. Can't she pick someone more worthwhile?_


	11. Part II: Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Murra's breath was knocked from her as she landed on Sil's recovering body. Within seconds, both sisters were on their feet, dueling again. Bodies spun and flipped as blades met and insults were exchanged, but neither sister gained advantage over the other for hours. The duel progressed and damages surmounted to millions of credits, but neither sister seemed to care about anything other than besting her sparring opponent, not bothering to take their gazes off of each other for more than one second. The duel flowed artistically from one end of the basement to the other, with the hum of the lightsabers matching the beat of the robes' swirls and the occasional rips. Sweat dripped from Murra's clothes, but neither sister noticed in the dark.

Murra raised her lightsaber to decapitate her sister and asked the Force to forgive her for her actions, but the need for that forgiveness diminished when Sil blocked and twisted the parry into a series of fast-paced assaults, each of which drove Murra further and further back until the younger sister slammed into the locked door that led to Tenel Ka's secret sanctuary. The redheaded sister sensed a source of energy beyond the door, but did not let on as she drew from the well and turned Sil's blade away from the sweat-soaked shoulder with a forceful twist and then launched a series of blows and slashes, each meant to neutralize Sil. However, both sisters were evenly matched and Murra only found herself damaging centuries-old artwork in her attempts to stop her sister. As dawn neared, Sil finally was able to find a strength to use against the worn-out, human sister. With a few twists, kicks, and flips, Sil literally had Murra cornered and defenseless.

Both sweat and tears dripped from the tired Murra's face as she landed in the corner of the basement like a rag doll. She could feel her sister's fatigue, but apparently, Sil was using a strange technique to hold it off.

"Kill me, then." Murra closed her emerald eyes and prepared for death to come. This time, she had nothing to use against her sister. Her lightsaber was in Sil's hands as a result of a foolish mistake and her husband was unconscious after resisting Sil's guards. The Jedi Master saw light and assumed that it was the light of death. However, her curiosity was aroused when she felt the familiar swirling of a cloak, driving her to open her eyes and gasp. In her sister's place stood a feminine figure wrapped from head to toe in black. She guessed that Sil had changed, but she could not see past the black veil that completely covered the figure's face. Just as soon as Murra spotted the figure, it disappeared from sight and the cylinder that the Jedi Master recognized as her lightsaber stud was rolled toward the corner in which Murra was trapped.

Was that Sil? If that was Sil, then what had happened? Why did she leave and veil? Murra asked herself without receiving even one answer to her questions.

"Escort me out of this palace, please. She has had the mercy not to kill me." Murra stood up and raised her hands in surrender to her sister's guards. She did not mention that she had to report a darksider to the Jedi Council and perhaps take the seat offered to her.

"Take your weapon, Princess. I trust Jedi to be honorable enough not to use it after losing a fair fight." A pale, thin guard picked up the weapon and offered it to its owner.

"Lose? But she left. I assume she surrendered. I am merely leaving." Protested Murred, but to no avail.

"She would have impaled you had she not shown you mercy. Your normal sentence would be death, but the Unequaled Woman granted you pardon. I expect you to honor your sister's show of faith and accept your exile. Come with me." Explained one of the guards.

Murra struggled not to slump into her escort as she was marched out of the palace and toward the building that she recognized as one of the Hapan temples. Most did not believe it, but the Hapans, despite all their treachery, were as pious as they were matriarchal. She could see the rising sun behind the cityscape, but to her, it resembled a setting sun, for she could not help but feel as if that would be her last glance at any form of sunlight. She could see elegant people rising for a busy day, but none of it seemed to matter as long as she foresaw darkness. The woman wanted to cry more, but no more tears would stream from her dry, expended eyes.

"Princess, it is a shame that we do not meet under better circumstances. Come in." A man whom Murra recognized as High Priest Maryl Piyus, the intercessor between the Hapan angels and the common people, greeted the glimmering but weary princess at the gate of the temple. When she stepped inside the building, the priest continued. "Kneel before the altar, please."

Murra gladly obeyed and shifted her weight off of her overtaxed legs. She cast her face down and closed her once lively, green eyes. The high priest tapped Murra lightly on the shoulder with a special, stone staff, which was rumored to have been used by Anjretur eons ago. The princess winced as it narrowly missed one of the many saber burns she had received from her treacherous sister, but wiped the priest's immediate memory so that he would know nothing of her weakness.

"Entrahe matriae ae fiyae sevari s'conplie." Between motherland and daughter the separation completes itself. The priest spoke in high Basic, the language that the Hapan and the rest of the galaxy shared five thousand years ago. Even though Princess Murra was not proficient in ancient languages, each powerful word hit her like a block of stone that weighed at least as much as she did. Even though she was never truly Hapan, she could not help but feel angry at the injustice of her exile. The priest had not the slightest clue that he was exiling the woman who was attempting to save the sixty-three worlds from years of darkness under a Sith queen.

_That's just one more reason to hate Hapans._ Mura thought as her escorts led her to the spaceport. She had accomplished what Ben had asked her to do, but she had lost herself in the process. _Whatever. It's just the price for being a Jedi. At least good, honest people are still allowed in front of the Jedi Council, if not in that empty seat. I just hope my people won't brand me as an enemy for leading an army against Sil._

End of Part II: Return of the Royals

I'm hoping this worked.


	12. Part III: Chapter 11

Part III: Death and Rebirth

Chapter 11

Princess Murra struggled not to collapse onto her escorts as they marched her up the landing ramp of the ship that was to transport her to Coruscant, the non-Hapan planet of her choice. Almost as soon as she set foot inside the ship, she collapsed from the exhaustion of having to duel for six hours straight. Pain shot through the woman as one of her many fresh saber burns hit the cold metal beneath her feet. She wanted to scream, but her energy was already beyond spent and the Force seemed rather reluctant to aid the Jedi Master. Just when the red headed princess thought her physical agony was enough, the image of her traitorous sister came to her mind.

_Damn the Force! Father told me about the Embrace of Pain, but I never thought someone would make one out of my own body and my own mind! Oh, why did I even attach myself to her?_ Murra thought as waves of emotional pain washed over her mind. She had the feeling that her sister would find the pain refreshing, but it did not matter, for Murra did not enjoy torment.

Murra's fingers fumbled for minutes before she finally convinced her lightsaber to revert to the dual-saber form. She momentarily wished that Ben was at her side, helping her with the machine._ I paid off my debt to you for the lightsabers you helped me build; now you owe me for making me fight my own sister._

"How? Sil? How could you turn to the dark side? What happened to you?" The drowsy princess muttered repeatedly as her lack of strength overtook her and dropped her eyelids as if they were made of lead. Murra could only be glad that no one could see any more of her bloodshot, glimmering eyes. Blackness reigned for an indefinite amount of time before a vision, or a dream, whichever it was, took hold of the woman's eyes.

Vision

Two females crouched against each other, back-to-back and scared. An army of heavily armed pirates surrounded and outnumbered the women by a million to one.

"Why, what's this meaning of this?" The younger girl snarled as she jerked an attacker by his elbow and dumped him on the floor. "What do you want from us? I already gave you my right to rule!"

"Isn't it obvious, Your Highness? We need your lives. We need your bodies to present to the galaxy to show that Hapans don't allow Jedi in their royal family, especially daughters of the woman that abolished our monarchy. All of that, unless you surrender to us or give us back our men. We'd hate to see such strong and beautiful ladies wasted." One of the other attackers replied in a sneering tone.

"Never." Growled the younger female. "Witches don't surrender to men and I won't betray Mother."

The Ni'Korish pirates were not happy with their Jedi queen introducing full-blown democracy to Hapes and decided to make their point by attacking the woman's two daughters.

The younger of the two women was no older than fifteen. Having just finished her Dathomiri witch training, the girl wore a glittering green lizard hide armor. But unlike most Dathomiri warriors/witches, the girl, instead of growing out and braiding her red curls, wore them in a short, elegant, Hapan fashion. Her emerald-green eyes and colorless face glittered with a bitter determination to abide by the rules of the matriarchal witch clan of her mother's mother, Teneniel Djo.

The other woman very much contrasted the first. She had the physique of the average eighteen-year-old Hapan, but her granite-gray eyes glittered with centuries' worth of experience. When she was a mere infant, she was target to many kidnapping and assassination attempts because of her powers and her mother's rule over sixty-three planets. The woman was once a Jedi Knight, but one could only tell from her lightsaber. Her ankle-length hair was a shade lighter than chocolate-brown and three distinct streaks of orange provided some contrast. Sometimes all she had in common with the other woman were parents and Jedi potential.

The pirates all seemed to fire at once, causing the younger, more muscular sister to leap fifteen feet into the air and the other woman to slide aside like soap. As the redhead came down, she planted each foot in the chest of a man and brought her two targets to the floor. But that was not hard enough. They shot at her simultaneously and the girl was not agile enough to completely dodge both shots. One shot had scorched her leg and the girl had no choice but to drop to one knee for a second.

That one-second was all it took for many pirates to be able to point their weapons at the younger girl. As shots soared at her, the girl's hands flew to her sides and drew out shortened lightsaber studs. Two blurs of green then sent most of the blaster bolts away from the girl, but a few found their marks and made gashes on her arm. For a few hours, the girl seemed victorious against the rebels, but for every one that she took down, two more replaced him.

One of the replacements happened to be an alien with a distinct odor about him. Suddenly, the girl began to feel faint. _Poison gas_. She realized and using a Dathomiri technique that the Djos were renowned for, she summoned a mist in an effort to dampen the toxin. All the mist did was attach it to her skin and make the chemical more effective.

The witch never had her father and sister's talent for using the Force to keep the body free of poisons, so she began to suffer. She reached out to her sister and found the other woman dodging shots and healing her at the same time.

The girl suddenly felt a jowl of pain as the metal of her armor pierced her hip and brought poison into major blood vessels. Whatever chemical she was attacked with, it was specially designed to eat away lizard scales and skin. A few kicks and punches sent the princess landing hard on the floor with only a small trace of life left in her muscular body.

"MURRA!" The other female shouted as she sped halfway across the room to tend to her fallen sister. Being older and having far more experience with being attacked than her sister, the woman survived the battle with only a few major cuts and wounds.

"Sil… you've come to save me." Murra gave a barely audible moan as warm blood streaked from the corners of her mouth.

Sil's gray eyes and lips expressed anger and determination as her blade of almost pure white cut through the attackers amassed in the room. Her sister had not yet learned to embrace pain and now was not the time to teach, for if pain became Murra's source of energy, the girl would die within seconds.

When Sil reached her sister, the woman knelt down, allowing her flying, ankle-length hair to land on the floor and make an apparent tent. She used the Force to remove most of the gas in the area, then grabbed her sister's pale wrist and melded the two Jedi minds.

Sil could see the grim fate that awaited both sisters if they stayed in that room any longer, so she tapped into the energy of her surroundings. The energy was not enough, and frustration drove the young woman to go further. _Jysella._ The sisters thought in unison as they felt a third Force user touch them from afar. Sil smiled as she felt Jysella Horn summon and transfer massive amounts of energy through the Force.

_What are you doing, sis?_ Murra managed to weakly think at her sister.

_I'm taking you out of here. I'll be back and they'll pay for what they did to my love._ Sil thought back. A wind came out of nowhere and whipped her face as the woman used the combined powers she and Jysella Horn had summoned to warp time-space. Sil was not physically strong enough to carry her muscular sister under normal gravity, and definitely not strong enough to pick up her sister and move out of the area by stepping on shoulders.

Levitating Murra with the little bit of strength she had left from trying to force her will upon time-space, Sil sent her sister into the vortex, only to have the girl exit somewhere the minute she was in. Sil wanted to step back and use her powers to transform the crowd of attackers into smoke and carnage, but the Force was out of her control.

Completely drained, the woman felt herself drifting through time-space and making unsuccessful attempts to exit and destroy her vortex. As she was on the brink of unconsciousness, the astral form of an alien Jedi appeared in front of the living Jedi Master.

"I don't want to die…" The feverish and tired Jedi muttered.

Suddenly, the feverish and engrossed Sil felt every particle in her mind burst with pain as she finally exited the vortex. Wherever, no, whenever she was, none of the things she had held on to for eighteen years existed. The woman was numbed to the point where she did not know whether she was drowning in a sea of liquid or falling through a gaseous atmosphere. She was just falling because her Jedi cloak whipped her skin hard. She tried to reach out and secure herself, but she did not have enough energy and the Force refused her its access.


	13. Part III: Chapter 12

Chapter 12

_The Force! No! Not like Qel-Droma… _All of a sudden, the princess could not feel the Force roaring in her head. Sil's thoughts wandered from one Jedi to another, and sometimes to the ordinary people that she had met or known about. She then saw flashes of her life. She saw Kodachi Cha slay with her amphistaff. Her cousin's greenhouse was next to appear. It was in ruins because Sil had pumped into it something called ethylene and sprayed the plants with the contents from a bottle labeled 'gibberellins'. At last she saw the handsome face of her dear Kyril, the only man she had truly loved. _Force, why do you torment me? Is it not enough that Kyril became one with you?_

Sil's thoughts and mental torment were disrupted when physical pain erupted throughout her body once again. She had landed with a thud on something hard. Her painful attempts to move told of injuries to major bones.

After a struggle, the ex-Jedi woman opened her eyes and saw a magnificent figure approach. Even without the aid of the Force, she could feel the man's overbearing presence. The figure sank sharp fangs into her neck and drained every last drop of the woman's blood.

How good it felt to the tormented soul. Or rather, how good it was to be rendered soulless and free from the trivial, mortal things like love and morals, not that she truly had her morals when she was alive.

Sil felt a coldness that she had never felt before spread through her body and welcomed it. Wherever the dark coldness touched, changes occurred. The first were in her teeth. Beautiful and straight rows of white became pointed, yellow-tinted, predatory fangs. Her gray eyes became reflections of the moon's color. When her transformation was complete, the woman looked at herself in awe. The magic bite had healed every last bit of damage done to the body and exaggerated some of her better features.

Realizing that she was still sprawled on the ground, the woman pushed herself halfway up. A conversation with the mysterious stranger revealed his name to be RavenBlack. When the man asked her what her name was, a whisper stopped any attempt from the woman to give her real name.

_Long will be your days in the darkness, where you will gain strength and discover many new worlds. Not today, but you will one day take your father's name, for you shall be alone for all eternity. _The distant voice of someone once familiar, but forgotten to the new vampire, echoed in Sil's head.

"I'm Solo. Master Solo." Sil finally responded and fulfilled part of the prophecy.

After warning Master Solo to stay out of the sun, RavenBlack disappeared into the night, not to be seen again by his childer for more than a thousand years.

The new vampire picked herself up walked down the stone passageway on which she landed with a thud. The scent of fresh blood flowed into her nostrils and the vampire's instincts led her to follow the inviting odor to its source.

The new vampire found a field strewn with dead men wearing metal. Her body's screams for blood evolved from instincts and gut feelings to conscious thoughts. She walked toward a man with a sword stuck in his side and drew out the bloody blade. Master Solo then spotted a sheath and put the sword in it. She clipped the sheathed weapon to her belt and removed the man's metal armor and shirt.

The vampire removed the metal gear with surprising ease. The woman was never as strong physically as her mother and sister and made up for her weakness in Force-power, but now, the metal felt like paper. _Neat._ She thought.

The woman drew the sword from its casing and used it to remove the man's heart. She instinctively placed her mouth at the hole she made in the man's chest and drained as much blood as she could through the main blood vessels. When the man was as dry as he was dead, the vampire rose with a smile upon her bloody lips. With each gulp of blood the vampire felt stronger and more content.

As the power surged through her undead body, the ex-Jedi reached out once again with her Force abilities. She found her strong Force presence almost diminished to zero.

As she looked down at the man she had drained, she snickered. _Foolish humans._ She thought. A small voice within the vampire cried for her to repent for the drinking of blood and report her doings to the Jedi Council somehow, but the vampire silenced it and eternally banished its source. The Jedi were foolish and the powers of what they called the Dark Side were far more enticing than what they had taught. Sil doubted that the Jedi even had the slightest idea how much of a pleasure it was to taste blood and to drive that lightsaber blade through the body of every man who was suspected of involvement in Kyril's death.

End of vision

"Sil, Sil, don't take it!" Murra muttered wildly as her vision began to fade. Crystalline droplets of sweat formed on her face as the woman contorted and thrashed wildly. Murra hoped that all she was shown was a mere dream and that Sil was the sister she had always remembered, but her feelings told her otherwise. It was like Sil to enjoy all power she could get her hands on, but Murra did not want to believe. She did not want to believe that Sil chose the dark side, even though the other sister had constantly argued with the Jedi Council over the appropriate uses of the Force and the regulation on the alcohol allotted to Jedi.

_No, I already accepted what I saw. This isn't the Sil I thought I knew when I was just a young, naïve child._ Murra forced herself to think. The woman pressed her palms against the near-freezing metal floor and pushed herself up. She must have slept for hours, for she found herself refreshed. The hours on the floor were not a rejuvenating as a normal night, but for the moment, Murra was content with the amount of vigor that she recharged. A growl from the Jedi Master's stomach told her that sleep was only half the rest, for a six-hour fight demanded at least a normal breakfast to recharge the energy, especially when the woman was almost all muscle and no fat.

Murra felt slightly faint and could see stars spinning around her head as she wandered down the corridors of her escort ship. After she examined room after room without coming across the mess hall, she struggled to withhold strings of curses. She tried to increase her odds by touching the Force, but, much to her despair, her luck only worsened. She knew she felt angry and frustrated, however, it never crossed her mind that emotions were clouding her thoughts.

"That's the princess, Ghachg!" A hushed voice whispered excitedly.

"Make certain." Growled a low voice. The hair on Murra's neck raised themselves on instincts call and heartbeat, already rapid from the emotions streaming in her blood, quickened to almost an unhealthy pace.

_Every time I oversleep, I end up paranoid. Calm does it. There's nothing dangerous here._ Murra took a deep breath and focused on reducing her heartbeat and bringing warmth back into her sweaty fingertips.

"She is the princess." The first voice murmured. "She has the muscles and she dresses like a princess. Take her."

All of Murra's work on her body and discipline was undone as the second voice landed on her sensitive ears. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a rising shadow. When she lunged, the Jedi Master found herself surrounded by a race that she recognized but hoped to never face.


	14. Part III: Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"My Queen, your sister had been exiled, as is tradition." Reported a servant.

"Good. Leave me here. I am not to be disturbed while I recuperate." Sil panted heavily and had to rely on a wall for support. The duel with her sister had taken a heavy toll on the woman's energy reserves and strength. She brought her hand up to her mouth as a coughing fit sent blood spewing from her nose and mouth.

"Your Majesty, are you okay?" The servant inquired.

"Yes, now go!" Sil lied and paced off into a darker region of the basement. Exhausted to the core, Sil collapsed against a barrel and closed her eyes. Without blood, her recuperation would be slow, but she, as Queen Mother, could not drain the boy she sent away.

Before eyelids could fully cover Sil's dull, gray eyes, Sil found herself in a place she had not seen in at least a thousand years.

Flashback

"Kyril!" An eighteen-year-old, still human Sil shrieked as she forced open the double doors that led to one of the many conference rooms in Fountain Palace. The room was devoid of life, save a few decorative plants and a body that half leaned against a chair. Sil's worst nightmares about the disturbance she felt in the Force were confirmed. The one man who had ever managed to provoke some strange, special feeling from her was assassinated, judging from the knife hilt that protruded from his bleeding throat.

Ignoring the furniture in her path, Sil rushed to the man's side and dropped to her knees to reach him. Kyril of House Ceraith weakly turned toward his lady-to-be and grinned slightly. When he budged his wrist somewhat in an attempt to stroke Sil's cheek, the ex-Jedi grabbed his hand and stopped it.

"Don't try move. Here, let me take that." Sil dropped to her knees and carefully removed the double-edged weapon from the young man's throat. The man's lips moved and blood gurgled from his throat before streaming from the corners of his mouth. The golden lighting of the palace betrayed none of the woman's emotions and mood.

"Please, don't talk. For the angels' sakes, stay with me!" A tear streamed down Sil's face and a group of forgotten emotions welled up in the woman, threatening to burst her body at any moment. With a shaking hand, Sil placed the knife atop a table and cradled Kyril's head in an attempt to move him. Meanwhile, with her free hand, she stroked his pallid cheek.

Fresh, crimson blood streamed from the man's nostrils as he exhaled his increasingly labored breaths.

"Damn you! Don't leave! I'll get back whoever did this to you; they won't live to see tomorrow, I swear by the Force!" Sil desperately swore and shook the handsome, dying man in her arm. A river of tears mingled with the fresh blood on the mosaic floor as pale, cream-colored lids permanently fell over the man's emerald-green eyes.

"NO!" Sil screamed in rage when she felt Kyril's death through the Force. Her fist pounded against a table and everything on the polished tabletop jumped in response. She then collapsed into a sobbing heap on the man's chest.

When there were no more tears to shed, Sil picked herself up and drew out her lightsaber stud. With one move of her thumb, a deadly, silver saber hummed to life. Her eyes were no longer dull but rather, deadly and venomous to the point where staring her in the eye could mean instant death. She knew only one group who could have a motive to kill her Kyril and every last one of them that she could find would die for her man's death.

Lady Ceraith, Kyril's older sister, had complained about owing a debt to the impatient Ni'Korish party leaders and it was common knowledge that the anti-Jedi group was meeting in the Great Circle at the edge of the city. Sil tapped into the Force and confirmed her suspicions.

The princess wasted no time in rushing into the meeting place. She knew she had spent too many hours weeping for her lost Kyril, for the sun had set by the time she was out.

"Princess, I believe you are not an official member of this party." One man turned and sarcastically stated.

"No, but I do owe this party a debt of life." Sil's posture, stance, and low growl were menacing. Before anyone could respond, Sil continued. "You have murdered a man who is to be prince and I, by my authority as Kyril House Ceraith's princess, will carry out your sentences by my own hand!"

She brought her lightsaber down into the shoulder of the nearest man and then with a push, she chopped the man in two. In a fluid, continued motion too fast for the naked eye to follow, Sil reduced ten more people to mere body parts. Her blood boiled, and for the moment, there was only her, the Force, and the wrath that she was all too familiar with. She spun in angry circles and wove ribbons of deadly light as she slaughtered by the dozens. The angry beat of her dance had found harmony with her Skywalker blood.

One man approached Sil with a blaster and the Jedi, without thinking, slashed through the man's wrists and watched the pain and shock in his eyes with pleasure. She then drove her lightsaber through his chest and mercilessly kicked his throat. Sil swung her lightsaber in a circle around her body and pivoted on her left foot, cutting half a dozen politicians in half. When pieces of human flesh toppled toward the former Jedi, she merely glanced and sent the pieces back to the ground with a single wave of her hand.

Shocked members of the Ni'Korish party screamed and scrambled for safety, but their efforts were futile. Sil had sworn that every last one of them would pay, and she meant every last one. With one massive Force-tug, she dragged every fleeing person back into the circle that she had transformed into a slaughterhouse.

"Princess, you're mad!" Someone screamed. In response, Sil merely grinned and used the Force to tear the speaker to bloody shreds. The woman did not even as much as pause until every last being that bothered to attend the meeting was reduced to ribbons of smoking, bleeding flesh on the grassy floor.

Despite Sil's Jedi upbringing, she found exacting the ultimate revenge to be oddly pleasant and addicting.

In the darkness of the night, a lone figure stood amidst the sprawling carnage in the light of the Hapan moons. A white saber waved in the reflected light as if it was the scepter of the famed angel of death from Hapan mythology. The incarnadine color of the blood from the bodies was reflected in the figure's normally steely eyes, as befitting her wrathful mood. Without the thoroughly feminine face and body, the woman was an exact copy of a young version of her most powerful ancestor, Anakin Skywalker.

The black-clad woman examined the adversaries whom she slew, hoping to find peace after her stormy rampage. Those political enemies who murdered her love had been slaughtered like the animals they were on the inside, but the killer could find no peace. The torment of losing the only man she had dared to love only grew stronger as she scanned the men who were unfortunate enough to be tortured before their deaths.

In an attempt to pacify her mind, Sil took out her remaining rage on her enemies by shredding their remains with her hands, but there still no satisfaction. The bodies in her immediate vicinity were reduced to bloody, smoking pulps of flesh the size of fists, yet still, anger boiled Sil's blood. Even after she repeated the process with every bit of flesh she could find in the slaughterhouse, she found neither piece nor quiet.

The woman thought she would be satisfied with her work, but instead, every ounce of pain she had inflicted had been reflected back at her and permanently tormenting her shattered heart. Shattered dreams and hopes seemed to rise from the dead bodies' nostrils and pelt her with arrows designed for the sole purpose of shattering one's mind. Even the face of the man she loved rose from the earth and screeched insults at the woman.

"Kyril, please! It's me! You're hurting me!" The woman half screamed and half pleaded as tears and sweat rolled down her flawless skin. Knees dropped to the grassy floor as the woman's two hands each gouged out a fistful of blood soaked dirt from the wet soil beneath the dead bodies. "Kyril, my dear, you truly don't mean what you said, do you? Ahh, why?"

The woman emptied one of her hands and punched the mixture of blood, water, microscopic animals, and roots beneath the carnage as teardrops landed on the back of the hand.


	15. Part III: Chapter 14

Chapter 14

_There is no peace, there is torment._

The woman heard a strange, mysterious voice whisper the words into her ears and smiled as she accepted them. She knew that her disagreement with the Jedi with whom she once trained had deeper roots than her taste for political power, even though she did not think so at the time she left the Jedi. Those Jedi had not the slightest clue about how wrong the very first part of their code was. Anger and lust, the woman's two strongest emotions, had not only existed but tortured people and drove every last vestige of peace away from the Skywalker descendant.

The woman accepted the teaching with ease, for it made sense to her more than the Jedi Code ever did. There was never peace, but there always was emotion. Because emotions always played a key role in torment, it was safe to say that the words from the unknown stranger only made sense.

_How could those ignorant fools who call themselves Jedi Masters not see this? Sithspit, my father was even on that council! _The woman wondered. She was only eighteen years old, much younger than the Jedi on the Council, yet she had already seen the nonexistent truth behind the lie that they call the Jedi Code. She had anger, she had hatred, she had love, she had jealousy, and she had not, since she was born, had a single second without the torture of having emotions.

_There is no teacher, there is ignorance._

The mystical voice spoke again and the woman once again accepted without argument. Because no one amongst the Jedi Masters was willing to open their eyes to the naked truth, not even the greatest of the great, Kyp Durron and Jacen Solo, who had unlocked all the secrets of the Force, there were no teachers. When there was no one to teach, ignorance was notoriously widespread.

"This isn't right." The woman muttered as a gust of wind blew forth her light brown tresses. She had seen how anger helped her to level her adversaries with her searing, silver blade and she could not stand and watch as those fools on the Jedi Council vehemently denied what she uncovered.

_There is no serenity, there is passion._

The fiery red of blood burned in the woman's eyes. A distant passerby might label the expression as one of wrath, but a close examination of her eyes revealed the fires of passion that burned in the once-serene eyes. The occasional black specks in the close-up view of the woman's eyes were like the ashes of the serenity that she once had about her. Serenity was consumed completely in the wildfire of passion that, alongside anger, drove the woman to slaughter en masse.

The fires of the passion with which she hated her lover's killers and with which she loved her Kyril had spread throughout the woman's body as the last vestige of her youthful serenity was destroyed. There was a mental explosion as every part of the woman's mind and personality caught fire. Within minutes, every recognizable aspect of the woman was dead.

On the outside, the woman's face merely reddened, as if the firestorm raging within her was nothing but a bit of summer heat. The woman rose and threw her hair back wildly when her head finally emerged from between her shoulders.

"Princess, what had happened?" What seemed to be hours later, someone stepped into the scene and inquired about the massacre. Sil turned and narrowed her eyes. She heard a gasp as the other woman had a good glance at the flaming-red eyes.

Sil had hoped to find another target to beat upon, but she was disappointed as she recognized Lady-Duchess Ceraith, her soon-to-be sister-in-law.

"Rosanna Ceraith! The Ni'Korish killed Kyril and I returned their favor. All debts have been repaid, as is the order of the angels." Sil replied.

"Oh, by the angels, none of this should have happened! Brother, dead, and sister, committing mass murder!" The older woman dropped to her knees and pounded a fist against the dirt. Sil knew she felt some forgotten emotion toward this woman, something different than what she felt toward the one named Kyril, but she, for the life of her, could not name it.

"Oh, dear sister!" The young Sil gave an anguished cry and squeezed the other woman in a bear hug. In the comfort of embrace, she shared some of the pain that resided in her tormented conscience and soul. Ceraith returned the hug and unconsciously opened her torrent of emotions to Sil. Tears streamed from the older woman's closed eyes onto Sil's clothes and eventually soaked through them, but Sil did not care about the wet spot on her shoulder.

End of Flashback

"What was that all about?" Sil put a hand on her forehead and sat up. A glance at the chronometer told her that only one standard hour had passed. She wondered. _Why do I remember this? What was that that I felt toward Kyril?_ Sil knew that why was always a question deeper than its answer, but she sought answers nonetheless and knew just where to start from the information in her flashback

The vampire covered her sensitive skin with layers of black cloth and finished by drawing a veil over her face. She then proceeded to search the HoloNet for Rosanna Ceraith. If anyone knew anything, it was she.


End file.
